Saturday, September 22, 2012

Learning funk music one crate of records at a time - Part 2

Today’s first LP on the turntable is “Good
High” by a band called Brick.

First off this LP gets an A+ in my book for
the cover alone! Damn I love the covers on these funk albums!

Brick was a funk band from Atlanta Georgia
that was active in the 70’s and 80’s. Apparently they were known for fusing
funk and jazz.They consisted of the
basics: drums; bass; guitar; keyboards and some horns.

I can really feel the jazz in this album which
I really love. The breaks they have with the Saxophone in the single “dazz” is
awesome. And who doesn’t’ love a bitchin flute solo once in a while! I’ll be
digging out my Herbie Mann albums as soon as this one is over!

They just have a different kind of groove
than the other funk albums I started with. The crisp sound of the hi-hats and
tamer bass give them a distinct rhythm section that I find unlike any other. Instead
of the bass being in the lead the entire song like many of the other artists it
fades to the background from time to time and then he waits his turn to let it
rip which really makes it stand out as a solo by itself.

One thing I have learned getting into funk
music so far. Lyrically it may not be up to snuff with some of my other
favorite genres. It’s the rhythm section that intrigues me of this style. Fun
lyrics though.. How great is the first verse of “Dazz”?

Everybody go on and dance
If you want toMusic makes your body move
Well all right
Funky dancing get up
Get down, shake your booty
Music makes your body move
Well all right

You
don’t even need music to dance with those lyrics!

next in the crate.........

Artist: Marvin Gaye

Album: Midnight Love

Next up we have a Marvin Gaye album. Now this is not as pure
funk as the first bunch of albums I discussed in this series. However, I definitely
feel that it falls in the funk category and deserves a spot here.

In short, I absolutely hated this record when I played it
through the first time.

But wait… It’s Marvin Gaye and I hated it? I mean this is
the same guy who did “What’s going on”.. One of my all-time favorite LP’s ever!

For this reasoning and this reasoning alone I put it on the
turntable for a second time and gave it another shot...

Ok how can I approach this….? Clear my head… Bring myself to
a 1980’s frame of mind… Keep in mind that a drum machine is supposed to sound
like…. well…. a drum machine.. not an acoustic drum set… Keep that open frame
of mind and accept that the synthesizer was supposed to sound as cheesy as it
did.. (please tell me it was supposed to sound that cheesy!)

Alright… second time through side A and I at least started
to appreciate it..

But this is Marvin.. MARVIN!.. One more time side A… this is
it..

You know what.. It grew on me.. “what’s going on” it sure
isn’t but overall it is a solid well written album…

Whew…. You’re lucky Marvin.. I really had to work for this one…

Marvin had just fulfilled his contractual obligations with
Motown and was on a comeback tour after he sobered up from his substance abuse
problem (this was a temporary sober period in his later life).

Once he started on his comeback tour Columbia signed him to
a three album contract. This was the first album under this contract and
unfortunately his last album in his lifetime as his father murdered him a few
years after its release.

He was really trying to compete with the popular musicians
of the early 80’s with this album. It fits right in with Michael Jackson,
Lionel Richie and Rick James albums released in this period.

Apparently Marvin was convinced to provide a similar sound
to these artists to compete with their popularity. Marvin pushed to make the
charts with this album, he recorded what he knew was mainstream at the time. He
originally planned on recording a more personal album with references to his
substance abuse and recent sobriety. I would have preferred the personal
approach that Marvin originally aimed for but there was definitely a place in
the early 80’s for this Marvin Gaye LP.